Inner Fire
by Kamiko Kiyo
Summary: Serenity meets Genrou, fulfilling Suzaku's prophecy, but when an accident results in amnesia how will it become accomplished? Surprising abilities and turn of events only add to the complications of their journey, but will they be for better or for worse
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay this is my very first story and the first few chapters have been revised to the best of my ability so please go easy on me

Disclaimer: All Characters rightfully belong to Yuu Watase except for Serenity (Seri), Kai, and Rosalie (Rose).

Inner Fire: Prologue

A young woman walked through the streets of the city towards her home; paying little attention to where she walked, barely dodging the bustling crowds that took no notice of her existence. The girl, given one glance would have been seen as having nothing distinguishable in appearance or dress. She adorned worn out blue jeans, a white t-shirt slightly exposed from beneath her black jean coat and old tennis shoes; highly ordinary and casual. One could tell she attended some form of education by the backpack over her shoulder as well as the fact that she was deep in thought from her far off expression despite the fact that her dark sunglasses masked most of her face. Though, outwardly, she seemed calm and simply off in dream land no one would have though this school girl was currently being troubled with various emotions and dilemmas.

She'd been dreaming lately; now ordinarily no one would have concerns about their dreams; as dreams were supposedly of no importance and simply random, blurred, rubbish easily forgotten as awareness of the world sunk in. Of course this girl in particular had her reasons as it was not the first time her worries and senses of anxiety were present and things had…become strainful. Sometimes these dreams came to her in snippets of memory, other times they were flashes of different random images that seemed unrelated. More often than not they would result in her waking in tears from fear or pain she was never sure, but it was not only the dreams that unnerved her. It was also the feeling that ran throughout her whole body at random frames in time that tortured her mind.

A familiar name being called out which she recognized as her own snapped the young woman out of her thoughts. She turned to see a teenage boy with light, brownish blond hair and green eyes, wearing jeans, a black t-shirt and a book bag with an extended strap on his shoulder, wave his hand high, signaling for her to wait. He was running towards her with an exited expression you'd find on a puppy seeing its master had just walked through the door and with the way he was panting the girl thought he resembled a puppy even more so. When he caught up to her form he breathed heavily with his hands on his knees gasping for air.

"Kai? I thought you had to stay after school today," she inquired. A sweat drop of worry started to form on her face as the boy, Kai, was nearly lying flat out on the ground from exhaustion having lost the strength to stand.

"Yeah, well you see I finished my test sooner than I thought and hoped I could catch up to you before you got home," he said between pants and slowly his hand rose from the ground in a pleading gesture for the woman to help Kai back to his feat; she immediately obliged as many in the crowd started to stare at the spectacle.

"Are you sure you're athletic?" she asked making a struggling noise as she tried to pull the teen to his feet; which was not an easy task due to the fact that he was nearly twice her weight and did not possess even half of his arm strength. "Most don't break down like this after only running a few blocks."

"Well Serenity, I may not be the cheetah you are, but my insane strength more than makes up for my lack of speed. I mean look at these guns, I outta be arrested for possession of illegal fire arm," said Kai, having now regained his composure, with mock narcissism. Though it was true nonetheless; though Kai's running ability was as good as a clumsy 3 year old and he had zero-coordination for the most part, no one their High school could match his strength. He'd been a natural at any sport that used mostly muscle to execute since he was young, and often offered to be on many school sports teams.

"Man, it's freezing out; I thought it was supposed to be spring, not the ice age!" he exclaimed rubbing his hands against his arms and shivering for emphasis as they continued walking down the street.

"Well it's your own fault, you know? We _just_ got out of winter, it will take some time before the weather warms up; and besides with your 'god bestowed' arm strength I'm sure those muscles of yours will keep you warm as bear," she mocked sarcastically laughing slightly at the sight of his misery before sighing. "I just don't understand why you can't just wear a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket like a normal person. Jeez, you're just like my brother was, never wearing anything, but jeans and some T-shirt, even in the dead of winter or when it's 100 degrees, and then you just complain…," she continued to lecture in a tone growing more annoying by the second to the brunet/blonds ears (can you use the term brunet with guys?).

"Yes mother," he mumbled.

"What was that..?" she demanded sharply, lowering her sunglasses to expose her eyes and sent a glare that yelled, 'I dare you to say that again so I can kick your ass.'

"Nothing, nothing," he quickly covered turning his attention to the side opposite of her as if it would cancel out her threat; because as far as he knew she wouldn't mind going through with it. "Well at least I'm not bundled up like fine China, how many layers is that? Two, three?" he said while pointing at her jacket for clarification.

"Shut up, you know I don't do well in the cold, remember all those outside gym classes around this time of year?" said Serenity defending herself.

"Oh yeah", he said reminiscing, "When _was_ the last time you were forced to run around outside in the cold and started screaming your lungs off while deafening everyone within a 10 mile radius, because you have low cold endurance?" he asked sarcastically, chuckling loudly in amusement as Serenity scowled at him making fun of her.

When the two got to Serenity's apartment they both walked into the living room and started to unpack their homework. Serenity went off to the kitchen to make snacks after setting her sunglasses on the counter, leaving Kai to get comfortable. The apartment easily accommodated about 3 people even though there was technically only one person that actually lived their. It was on the 4th floor of the complex and had a view of the park a few blocks away. The living room Kai sat in was generously furnished with a few arm chairs, one large erect 90 degree couch in the corner of the room and a long, half island that jetted out of the wall to help create one side of the kitchen that Serenity was in as she poured some juice. There were two more rooms in that one apartment alone; one was Serenity's room while the other could be considered a guest bedroom as it was rarely used. Running his vision over the room with a bored expression Kai spotted a book he had seen Serenity carrying a week before. Walking over, and picking it up, he checked the recite that acted as a book mark, and examined it.

"Hey, Seri, how long have you had this book?" he asked, calling Serenity by her nickname.

"A week; 12 days, give or take, why?" she asked after entering the living room with their beverages to see what he was talking about.

"It's been due for two days. Here we have yet another classic example of your bizarre forgetfulness patterns," spoke Kai as if he were narrating an animal documentary and sighed," honestly Serenity you have great marks and remember everything about school, but when it comes to anything else you totally spa- "he was stopped in mid sentence as Serenity had swiped the book out of his hand and bolted through the door, Kai ran after her with a bit of worry on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner, dammit! Shit, I have to get to the library NOW!" Once she was out of the apartment she turned toward the direction of the library, but was stopped by a hand grasping her shoulder.

"Damn Seri! You may be weak in the arms, but when it comes to running you could win an Olympic metal!" yelled the poor boy whose body was never intended to have a frequent use of running, lest he die of overexertion.

"Why the hell are you stopping me? I have to return this now!"Serenity complained with more than a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"Uh, Seri, isn't the library closed?" Serenity face-faulted and Kai sweat dropped (A/N: Let's pretend they don't have after-hour return slots, shall we?).

"So Kai, how's your sister doing? I haven't seen her for a while," asked Serenity as they made their way back upstairs.

"Rose is doing fine, she's been really busy since she got into college and luckily, doesn't have time to bother me like she used to," said Kai, remembering all the times she'd order him around like a servant and blame him for things that were not in his control. Meanwhile Serenity had sweat dropped nervously at the sour face of her best friend, including her own experiences with Kai's sister. Needless to say, Rosalie was an irritable subject for him.

"And speaking of family, how's your brother? Has he called lately?" asked Kai.

"You make it sound as if I don't live with the guy."

"Well you might as well have your own apartment, I mean, I don't even live there, but I'm around more than he is."

"To answer your question, it's the same as usual, I wake up when he's already at work, and rarely see him if he gets home early from doing whatever. Though, I did catch a small glimpse of the mysterious phantom last week," she answered and then became quiet which told Kai Serenity was deeply thinking. "Jeez things have changed, I would have never guessed back then things would be like this," she whispered mostly to herself. though Kai knew better than to shrug her behavior off as simple memories. He could hear a slight underlying tone of longing and he as well became thoughtful of the past to now.

"Life takes some of the most unexpected courses sometimes, Seri for good and bad," Kai offered.

Once they were back in the apartment Serenity placed the book in her backpack before they started on their homework and ate the food she had prepared before her outburst; hoping to lighten the mood an idea struck Kai. He walked over to Serenity's room, the room's owner watching him curiously as he did, and opened a drawer full of candy. Taking a chocolate bar out of the assortment, he casually walked back to the living room and sat down again as if nothing had happened. As soon as Serenity saw what he was carrying a pulse mark of growing irritation appeared on her forehead.

"Where did you get that?"

"Where do you think, Einstein? Out of your candy stash; I wanted some chocolate," he said innocently while unwrapping the Hersey's bar.

"That's mine you bastard, don't just take things out of my room!"

"Why not? You don't need the extra sugar, in-fact the only reason you're not a walking piece of blubber by now is because of some kind of freak metabolism in your blood," he sneered while closing his eyes in a mocking fashion. As he lifted the chocolate to his mouth, he was tackled to the floor by a small, but, at the moment, strong mass. While Serenity reached for the candy bar Kai held it far out of her grasp while laugh maniacally at her obvious frustration.

"Gimme my chocolate or you're a dead man!" yelled Serenity followed by a spout of curses, normally Kai would never mess with Serenity when it came to her candies, but he decided taking his chances this one time wouldn't get him killed…probably.

"Gimme, gimme never gets Seri!" Before either of them knew it they were rolling around the floor tangled in each other laughing to the point of tears, the forgotten candy bar lying somewhere.

After the massacre Kai and Serenity had begun chatting about nothing in particular as the hour flew by, all while accomplishing their assigned school work. During their homework periods Serenity would continuously speed through the papers while Kai would complain and ask her for the answers, which she would never give. Then after much stress he would simply give in to Serenity basically re-teaching everything they had learned in simplistic ways while never having to even postpone her own progress of work. Needless to say, this was one field where Serenity held all the advantages.

"Finally! Done!" yelled Kai dramatically as he let his head carelessly fall on the coffee table.

"You're such a big baby about this. If you didn't have me you would fall on your ass in school."

"Um, if you're forgetting Seri, I _do_ fall on my ass in school. Almost no coordination, remember?"

"Excuses, excuses," she taunted, "you seem to do fine as long as you pay attention, which by the way, has never been your strong point either."

"I pay attention when you teach me," he defended.

"Yeah, after I nearly cram everything into your thick-," Serenity trailed as she saw the clock. "Huh, Kai, you better get going, it's almost 7." Kai took a moment as his eyes shifted through the apartment to the clock and adopted a contemplative thought.

"Ya know, I could stay another hour if you want, mom's gonna know where I am and she's just making for dinner curry, besides, Rose is coming over tonight and after her being gone for a month or two, I'm no rush to see her," he said as his face soured.

"What! You haven't seen her in that long?" she asked as guilt welled in her chest, "C'mon Rose is still your sister, you have to see her at least every once in a while and you love your mom's curry," she encouraged.

" No, no," he declined stubbornly, "curry is just food and I've had enough of Rosalie for the last 17 years." At this point one would have to be blind to not see Serenity's growing irritation. Rosalie was taking time out of her college schedule to come see him and he was just gonna brush her off! And his mom was even making curry for dinner, one of his favorites! And for Serenity, if you got a chance to eat your favorite meal, nothing should stop you. Although underneath her irritation, Serenity silently considered Kai was taking consideration of her feelings with his actions of going as far as to stand up his sister and a family dinner for her and the thought made her thankful to have Kai as a friend... but still! She was not going to let him stay here just because it was a little comforting whether he knew it was to her or not. She would not keep him from his family and that was final!

"That's it, if you're not going to leave, then I'm kicking you out. You are here by prohibited from entering this apartment for the next 24 hours," she said in a commanding voice as she threw his backpack at his stomach for him to catch, and then proceeded to push him towards the door.

"B-but Serenity, I don't wanna see Rose," he complained as she continued to shove him through the door.

"I don't care! Go home, have a good time and say hello to Rose for me, now quit avoiding your own house," she commanded upon successfully pushing him out the door and slamming it shut, "I'll see you tomorrow!" she yelled through the door, feeling quite satisfied at getting him to go home. It was rare times like these that she felt she had the physical power as he was too busy complaining to think of using his superior strength to stay put in the apartment. In fact he didn't even try to really resist, just complained and tried not to fall on his face as she pushed him.

It was then that Serenity noticed the shape her (brother's) apartment was in. The couch cushions were not on the couch, blankets used for warmth were strewn across the floor in disarray, the food tray was out, but the dishes that had previously been there were on the ground, across the floor and just about everywhere else. It then it hit her, he had planned to this all along. Distracting her by telling her about the curry, Rose and insisting upon staying, so that she would throw him out due to guilt and just to get out of helpingher clean. Heat quickly rose to Serenity's face as she balled her fists up and gritted her teeth.

A young boy walked through the children's section, proudly holding his brand new library card to any stranger willing to take a glance. He had never seen anything so cool in his life; I mean how many 8-year-olds did he know who had a brand new one like him. His attention was immediately switched to a large, thin book left out on a table and his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. There were dinosaurs on the front with a cool background and everything! Just as he opened the book to see a large pop-up Teridactal in his face with its mouth open he heard an incoherent, blood curdling scream resounding through the library seeming to come from some far off distance. Though in his perspective, when he had opened the book to the large pop-up it seemed to come alive and screech at him, he screamed in fear at that instant before quickly shutting the book and running through the library crying for his mother and yelling something ludicrous around the lines of that the dinosaur had screamed in his face and that it was going to eat him, leaving the poor child scarred for life.

After recovering from her screams of anger Serenity reluctantly picked up the mess Kai had left her to clean by herself. Sometime later, too tired to stay awake any longer, she got out of her clothes and into her pajamas, then got into bed, turned out the light and went to sleep for the night.

_Dream_

_Serenity stood at the side of a river watching the sunset on the horizon. She crouched down to get a look at the fish in the water and dipped her finger in feeling the cool water rush over her fingers. Her head suddenly jolted up to the right as she noticed a figure approaching her and smiled joyfully at the shadowed form as it walked over to crouch next to her. The figure said something that made Serenity smile even wider as she stood up taking the figures in a silent request for them to stand as well. All of a sudden the almost angelic smile she wore curved into a sly, playful smirk as she bolted over a bridge that crossed the river turning to see that the figure followed after her trying to catch up._

_The vision of Serenity running with ease and laughing happily instantly faded to one of her running and stumbling ever so often with a fear and worry stricken face. It was raining heavily with a streak of lightning that illuminated the sky followed closely by a crash of thunder every so often all the while seeming to be yelling something. She was dodging the trees with incredible speed and was absolutely frantic as she spotted a clearing a little ways away. Back and forth the scene of running through the forest and scenes of random battle alternated in her vision; there were various types of battle ground, people fighting, amount of people and types of combat. Though through all of the violent scene flashes one was not of fighting at all; it was of a flame of fire surrounded by darkness that brightened until there was only white. Emerging from the forest the flashes in Serenity's vision instantly ceased as a far more disturbing environment greeted her with the an aura colder than the icy rain soaking her body._

_She looked over the expressions and faces of the dead with wide, blank disbelieving eyes. 7 dead bodies littered the open battlefield in front of her; each having severe wounds and blood splashed all around them, whether it was their or not Serenity did not truly know. She was too shocked to move, completely frozen in her spot and each face of the fallen she encountered made her legs weaker and weaker until she fell to the ground with her hands sinking into the mud slightly before her knees. _

_As she reached the last face she was over come with emotion as she teased up and started to hyperventilate and pulling her face parallel to the ground in effect. Suddenly the mud below her disappeared into darkness although the ground still existed as if she were on a clear glass floor; turning her head up to look around she faced a man with red hair and crimson glow that he seemed to emit. He smiled sadly at her as he pulled her into a warm comforting embrace that quickly calmed her broken feeling. She slowly closed her eyes tiredly, but was bombarded with the sight of a fierce, roaring, blue dragon and tightened her eyes shut as she let out a blood curdling scream of horror. _

_End dream_

Serenity's eyes shot open as she awoke to find herself safely within her bedroom clutching a now very sweat soaked pillow. As she slowly sat up in her bed, slouching over her legs, she looked over at her bedside clock which read 6:42. Though it was out of her routine, she got out of bed to take a morning shower, not wanting to chance another nightmare for a little more sleep.

Once stripped out of her sticky clothes, she turn on the shower head and let the warm water rush down her body trying to shun the dream out of her mind. _'Stupid dreams, you're going to drive me nuts before I even turn 17'_ she thought recalling her previous dreams while grabbing the bar of soap. For some reason the whenever she woke up from the dreams she became much calmer as the sleepy spell wore off. Even if she replayed the whole horrendous experience again and again in her mind she did not feel nearly as strong emotions as she did when they were happening.

Honestly, when she had the dreams she never felt as though she herself were threatened in the least, but became frantic as she watched things come apart around her and see all of the chaos ensue. Though strangely enough it was not the blood or violence that disrupted her mind either, though one might think she was insane for not finding her visions gruesomeness the problem. As she exited the shower a chill went down her back from the lack of heat; drying off she pushed the dream aside and started to get dressed.

Serenity absent mindedly pulled on a white t-shirt over her white tank top along with some old, faded jeans before starting to comb her hair, '_Damn my hair grows fast! It's almost past my hips again_," she sighed, knowing she'd soon be in for a hair cut. Looking over her appearance she silently thanked all gods that she attended one of the only schools in Tokyo that didn't require uniforms; she'd always hated wearing a skirt for the limited movement it provided including various other reasons.

She then moved on to re-placing her attachments sliding her red gemmed ring on her middle finger, her small white-beaded bracelet on her right wrist, and finally placing her must-wear necklace over her head. Once her hair was dry she took a brush and pulled her hair back into a low pony tail, fully exposing her crystal earrings. Tucking the two shorter pieces of her hair that framed her face behind her ears only to have them fall back into place; she sighed in empty frustration and let it be as she checked the clock. It was almost time for school and she could easily grab something from the convenience for breakfast and still get to school in time, so she was in no rush. Before moving to finish dressing she noticed her sunglasses on the counter and decided not to wear them today, but still put them in her backpack in case she changed her mind.

Grabbing her final article of clothing a.k.a. a black sweater with the zipper open, exposing her red t-shirt, she threw it over hers shoulders, and slipped into her tennis shoes before grabbing her backpack and starting down the hallway.

Kai stood outside Serenity's apartment eagerly waiting to walk to school with her. He was wearing dark blue jeans, and a plain dark blue T-shirt under a thin black jacket seeming to have taken Serenity's advice from the previous evening.

Suddenly small arms wrapped around his waist tightly; turning his head he was met with a desolate expression on Serenity's face clear as day and he instantly felt worried. She hadn't held onto him like this since they were little and his worry only spread seeing as she was not making the slightest effort to mask her negative emotions like she usually did.

"Seri what's wro-" he started in a soft tone, but was cut off by a firm, lifeless "Nothing," while her grip on him tightened. In that instant there was a silent understanding between the two. Kai asked no more questions and once Serenity let go, the two of them silently walked to school, a bit closer to one another than usual. As the school day went on Serenity slowly regained herself and became more lively, but no less shaken.

Walking home Kai, like yesterday, tried to cheer her up.

"Hey, Seri, instead of going to your house wanna go to mine today? You could even have dinner and eat a decent meal for once," he said nervously looking out of the corner of his eye for a reaction. This offer immediately caught her attention; turning her head slightly to speak with Kai more face to face.

"Are you sure?" she asked obviously worried, "if your sister's there won't it be a bit…rowdy?"

"Naw, she's been out with her friends for the last few days and hasn't come home for anything except a shower and her stuff, I doubt she'll be there," though, while all of this was true, Kai would take extra care in making sure Rosalie was gone.

"Are you sure it's okay to drop by so unexpected?"

"I'm sure it will go by fine, I mean, c'mon, my mom loves you," he reassured her.

"Okay," Serenity said, stopping dead in her tracks as she suddenly remembered her little needed errand. "Ahhh!" this caught Kai off guard and made him jump. Remembering her little habit, Kai sighed and folded his arms.

"What did you forget this time?" he asked as if he done so a thousand times, which actually might have been the case.

"The late book," she said dejectedly. Putting her palms up in a defensive motion, she slowly took started to step backwards. "I'll meet you at your house, I'll be there in a flash, really, go on without me," she said before running as if she were doing the hundred meter dash.

"Wait, I'll come with you!" he yelled, trying to make Serenity stop running so he could catch up.

"No! Just go to your house and tell your mom I'm coming over!" she yelled without turning around as her voice slowly faded. Knowing he couldn't possibly catch up to her when she was in full run, Kai started for his house.

As Serenity ran for the library, she wasn't sure whether she was angrier at herself for being as stupid as to forget about the book or more worried about keeping Kai waiting. She entered the front entrance, easily dodging everyone in her path, while still in her full run. Upon successfully returning her book and paying her late fee, she decided to take a rest before running back to Kai's.

Walking around the library, out of the corner of her eye she saw something that resembled a large red bird whoosh by in a blur into an open room. '_I can't believe it's- no, it couldn't be'_ she thought, redirecting her course towards the room she'd thought she'd seen the bird fly by. "This room is usually shut," she thought out loud, assuming a librarian forgot to shut it. She placed her hand on the handle in an attempt to shut it, until she heard a soft thud from within. Her own curiosity getting the better of her, she slowly entered the room, ready to run for it, if anyone should find her in there.

Although the room was dark Serenity could see clearly, having very good night vision. She thought she found the source of the noise when she found a book lying on the floor, picking it up she saw that the title was in Chinese. Serenity smiled happily at her luck, she took Chinese in school and even though she'd only learned for a short while, she picked it up fairly quickly and was ahead of most other students.

The book translated 'The Universe of the Four Gods,' a very enticing title in her opinion. It sounded to her like it would be from the fantasy genre, that being right up her alley, she thought it couldn't hurt to read a little and keep Kai only a little bit longer.

Opening the book, she began to read "Herein contains the tale of a young lady and her quest to gather the seven constellations of Suzaku together. And if you, the esteemed reader should read to the story's end, the spell contained within this book shall bestow upon you the powers of the heroine, and grant you your wish. For indeed the moment the page is turned, the story will become reality." Though the beginning sounded a bit odd, she was exited to hear more and continued on. In that moment a veil of red covered her vision. '_Wha-? What the hell is happening to me!_' she thought as she felt her body becoming lighter for some reason and even witness her hand started to fade transparently. Dropping the book and shutting her eyes against the brightness of the light, Serenity soon disappeared; the room becoming as silent and empty as it was before.

I know this chapter is boring, but it'll get better I swear, also I hope those who have read the previous version think I did the dream better and liked the extra little scene I put in


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This is my first try at a fan fic, please don't be harsh, just tell me how to fix it. When characters are speaking bold is **Japanese** and normal print is Chinese.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi, nor will I ever, all characters belong to Yuu Watase, except for Serenity (Seri), Kairin (Kai) and Rosalie (Rose).

Inner fire: Who's Serenity?

_Opening the book, she began to read "Herein contains the tale of a young lady and her quest to gather the seven constellations of Suzaku together. And if you, the esteemed reader should read to the story's end, the spell contained within this book shall bestow upon you the powers of the heroine, and grant you your wish. For indeed the moment the page is turned, the story will become reality." Though the beginning sounded a bit odd, she was exited to hear more and continued on. In that moment a veil of red covered her vision. '__Wha-? What the hell is happening to me!__' she thought as she felt her body becoming lighter for some reason and even witness her hand started to fade transparently. Dropping the book and shutting her eyes against the brightness of the light, Serenity soon disappeared; the room becoming as silent and empty as it was before._

When she opened her eyes Serenity couldn't believe what she saw, it was as if she had stepped into a picture from one of her text books. She was standing on an open dirt path, one side was a steep drop to what seemed like an ancient village with horse's, old styled buildings, and markets. On the other was a forest with a small lake just past a thin line of trees and two mountains off in the distance behind the village facing her.

She stared at everything around her as if they would disappear the moment she blinked. Too shocked to move, Serenity simply stood there, rerunning what had occurred in the last few moments to try and figure out how the hell she got there! She had been in the library and everything had been perfectly normal, all she did was read a book that had fallen on the floor and she ended up in a recreation of ancient China!

As she tried to sort out all the jumbled information and thoughts in her head, too shaken and unfocused to perceive anything outside of her vision, she was too late to hear someone yell from behind her. As she turned towards the direction of the voice, the sight of a large horse in a full trot greeted her and at that moment bodily instinct took over. Serenity took two steps before jumping out of the way in the nick of time. She would have considered herself lucky if she hadn't, not only over shot the distance, but also landed on the wrong side of the path…the more 'gravity is my enemy' side of the path.

Serenity started to tumble down the hill with growing speed and no sign of stopping while getting cut and jabbed by anything she'd roll over, unfortunately her backpack offered only the smallest help in cushioning her fall, seeing as it was over filled. The backpack actually stabbed into her back every time it hit the ground and did more harm than good.

How long she'd been falling down the cliff-like hill Serenity didn't know, it had gone on for so long at that point all she cared about was stopping, no matter how much damage she'd sustain. Her hopes were answered when something sturdy and hard collided with her backpack, adding one more bruise to who knew how many she'd already gotten. Though she'd been stopped from any further potential injury, in the process her head was slammed against the hard material with tremendous force gained from rolling for so long. The pain was excruciating, but didn't last long, as she lost consciousness.

It had been just his luck; Genrou had been at it for weeks, searching for something to cure his boss, Hakurou's, illness. He'd found something that could help in a near-by town not too far from the Mt. Reikaku; he'd be there in a flash considering it only took 2 days to get there by horse. Though he had pondered whether he should have used his gift given speed to get there quicker, Genrou decided against it seeing as he'd barely had a wink of sleep within the last few days and couldn't run for that long...not without the risk of passing out. 'How could it hurt?' he'd thought, 'how could one night'a sleep and one day'a horse back possibly make a difference?' It could make a lot of difference.

He had just passed one of his personal land marks back to the strong hold, eager to see his good friend Kouji and his home for the past few years. He'd suddenly seen a woman standing in the middle of the freaking path looking off into space like some air-head! He'd yelled at her to get out of the way several times, but she'd shown no sign of moving and when she finally did she jumped right off the path, down the damn hill! As he heard her cries of pain as she fell down the hill, he couldn't help but worry if she'd be okay. Hearing no more sound coming from the bottom of the hill and no sign she was coming back up, he debated whether to confirm her well being or keep traveling towards the mountain.

'_I can't just leave 'er there, what if she's hurt 'er somethin'? I may hate women, but I don't want em' suffering. Sides' the boss'd probably beat the crap outta me if he heard I lefta' injured woman to save some time,'_ Genrou thought as he slid down the hill.

When he'd gotten to her she'd looked like a wreck, from her location he could easily tell she'd fallen quite a distance from the road. The only thing that stopped her from rolling into town was a large bolder. Inspecting her condition, she was covered in dirt and bruises, and had two giant gashes to the back and front of her head. Though, besides the two bloody wounds on her head, she was in better shape than he'd expected, only having a few cuts and scrapes on her face. Luckily for Genrou he'd picked up a few things on how to tend wounds from his hell filled days back on the farm with his mother and sisters. Those were some dark days he'd rather forget.

First, he scooped her up in his arms bridal-style, careful not to do anymore damage, and ran back up the hill. He brought her to the lake by the path and started cleaning most of the blood and dirt off her face and clothes; as he did Genrou silently noted how oddly she was dressed. When he'd first seen her he had only seen her back and her long hair that told him she was most likely female, but looking at her full attire he noted no one part of it looked even remotely female and started to reconsider his guess until he looked at her face and the slight rise of clothing on her chest and concluded she was indeed a girl. '_She's got some damn weird threads on though, I've never seen nothin' like 'em, definitely a foreigner'_, looking at the odd blue material of the pants and how the strange thick shirt was slightly open to show another red shirt. '_Damn, she's small,' _he thought wrapping a bandage around her head like a bandana_, 'she can't be any older than 12, what the hell is a kid doing out here by herself!'_

As he finished Genrou removed her bag from her back and laid her down on the ground. Not knowing how long it would take for her to wake up, he went foraging for some food to eat while she slept. The whole situation seemed innocent and normal at the time and in his mind Genrou was hoping his little act of kindness didn't come back to bite him in the butt later and that it only cost him an extra day of travel, little did he know he was in for one hell of a ride.

As Serenity opened her eyes they were burned by sunlight shining through the trees, she squinted at the brightness and sat up from where she laid. A large wave of pain washed over her, she groaned in response and held her head on each side, trying to alleviate some of the throbbing pain, feeling as if her head was splitting open among other aches.

As her blurred vision slowly cleared she found she was in a forest near a lake, as she tried to recall how she came to be there she drew a blank. Pushing the matter aside, looking left and right simply enjoying what was before her. The lake was sparkling in the sunlight and she could hear birds chirping from a ways away. As she inhaled she could smell the fresh air of the trees in the forest around her and small smile appeared on her face.

Suddenly a rough high-pitched sound from behind alarmed her; she turned to see a large horse carrying some bags, its reins tied to a large tree branch. Wondering who it belonged to while getting up, she made a move to pet the majestic animal against the aching in her legs telling her to stay put. She was soon answered by the sound of leaves ruffling against one another, turning her head towards the motioning bushes revealed a figure a bit far off from where Serenity stood.

Walking towards her was a man with bright orange hair and amber eyes, wearing a black coat over a white shirt covered with a sash as well as white pants and black boots, along with two dangling earrings and necklaces. Most men couldn't pull off wearing jewelry like that, but she thought it suited him well. He seemed to be between the ages of 16 and 18, and was holding a large leaf carrying an assortment of berries.

"I see you're finally awake, you've been out all day and I wasn't sure when you'd wake up," he said showing no recognizable emotion on his face, while setting the berry carrying leaf down on the ground where Serenity had previously been, sitting himself there as well. Serenity placed herself where she had stood, pulling her legs together and resting her arms on her knees; when he'd spoken she hadn't fully understood everything he said, all she'd made out were 'finally awake, out all day and wake up'.

Impatiently waiting for a response, Genrou analyzed her appearance from head to toe; she looked so different when she wasn't sleeping. When he'd inspected her before she'd resembled a naïve child, but now, even despite her apparent height and physique, she seemed more sophisticated and graceful. She didn't sit very properly, but her posture was still somehow very formal with respect for her age, with her back arched promptly and her forearms folded against each other on her knees; she seemed well-mannered, but relaxed as well.

Her hair was jet black was shining in the sunlight. The front pieces of her hair framing her face fell just past her chin while the back of her hair went all the way to her hips, nearly landing on the ground as she sat. He watched her as she pull her hair tie out of it's messed pony tail and place it over her wrist, leaving her hair to hang freely against her back. Her eyes were soft and clear, dripping with innocence, there was an unexplained air of tenderness about her that he couldn't quite place. Looking at her eyes more carefully, he leaned slightly closer to her to make sure his own weren't playing tricks on him. '_Does she have…..honey colored eyes?_' he asked himself, baffled. An odd mumble of gibberish snapped him out of his intense fixation on her and back to reality.

"**Uh..I don't know what you're saying, do you speak Japanese?"** she asked while running her fingers through her hair, hoping to make communication easier if by any luck he spoke the language she better.

"Huh? What kind of'a language are you speakin'?" asked Genrou more to himself than Serenity, as she inwardly sighed due to the communication problem she was sure they'd have. "So where exactly did ya come from, cause' judjin' by you clothes you're definitely not from Konan." This question caught her off guard, immediately halting her combing motion, her eyes widened and she searched her mind for the answer at the same time searching for words she knew that seemed to match his language and a realization hit her like a rock.

Serenity voiced her thoughts, without thinking, becoming dumbstruck by her own words, "No remember".

Kai paced back and forth in his room impatiently waiting for Serenity to arrive, it had been an hour since she'd told him to go ahead and she still hadn't arrived. Most people would have thought she simply got caught up in a book at the library and lost track of time, but Kai, having taken the roll of big brother over the years, knew she wouldn't keep him waiting, at least not without calling. To outsiders his next action would have been seen as being irrational and over protective, but to Kai it was logic and experience from the past.

He ran downstairs, threw his jacket on and headed for the library, as he walked past the living room he was almost out the door, as a hand came down on his shoulders. Looking behind him he saw Rosalie's face sporting a large angry mark on her forehead.

"**Just where do you think you're going?"**

"**To the library**," answered Kai, unintentionally.

"**So you thought you could sneak off to manipulate Serenity into ditching me and run away, you lying punk?**" said Rosalie, more as an accusation than a question. When Kai had gotten home he'd told his mother that Serenity was dropping by, Kai's mother, seeing Serenity as a second daughter, had no quarrels with her visit, but of course she had ended up tunning out Kai's plead to not tell Rosalie in-fact called her over.

"**I didn't say that! And just buzz off will you? I didn't lie, Serenity said she'd catch up after going to the library, but she hasn't come back yet, I'm just going there to see what's keeping her**," he said defensively, fully regaining her back-bone, now speaking face to face with Rosalie.

"**If that's all I'm coming, she's my friend too you know**," although Serenity had made it clear she wasn't completely thrilled to see Rosalie again, it's not like she hated her. Rosalie just acted like a doting sister with a 'little sis' complex every time they came in contact, well, more like Serenity was Rosalie's little, cute doll more than anything, but still, point was Rosalie really liked Serenity. Serenity liked Rose, she really did, she was just a little uncomfortable being in the same room as Kai and Rose at the same time. It had never changed a bit since they were little; it was a human tug-of-war whenever she tried to share the company of Kai and Rosalie in the same room.

Trying to avoid any further confrontation, Kai quickly opened the door yelling 'see ya!' before dashing away from the house, of course Rosalie quickly followed him yelling 'get back here!' and it was now a race to get to the library and find Serenity before the other did. Looking back Kai saw how little distance he had put between him and his sister by starting ahead, and he, as well as Rosalie, knew he couldn't keep running for long. Looking forward he took the only chance he had of staying ahead of his sister, using his exceptional strength he ran into a large crowd forcing anyone in his path left and right, out of his way. Once he was out he looked back to make sure Rosalie was no longer behind him and started off to his destination.

As he trudged down the streets of Tokyo he couldn't help but feel that something was off, other than the fact of Serenity's unusual absence. It was a feeling he'd only felt one other time in his life and his feeling had been proven to be correct. Although he hadn't shown it, Kai had felt very clingy to Serenity in the last few weeks; the feeling of not wanting to leave her, as if she'd disappear into thin air the next day was tearing him apart on the inside. That morning Kai had been overjoyed when Serenity had also shown signs of needing to be near him, though it didn't ease his foreboding sense.

When he arrived at the library he walked up the steps into the main lobby, the library had two floors and was bigger than his school, she could have been anywhere. He decided to start from the return area, remembering Serenity's late book, and take it from there. As he walked through the library a sudden surge of energy hit him like lightning, an unknown power guided his step and brought him to a dark room, the door read 'staff only', but something inside him told him to enter and he did just that.

It had taken forever, but Rosalie had finally gotten past that crowd and into the library, luckily for her she'd seen him right before he'd entered and rather than alert him of her presence, Rosalie decided to follow him quietly so any attempt to run off with Serenity and away from her wouldn't progress.

As she did, she saw him walk into a restricted area, '_what the hell does that little knuckle-head think he's doing_?' she asked herself, though she still followed him until she was standing outside the door peering in from the door frame. As she watched him from outside she decided to throw away the 'following him' tactic in exchange for giving him a good scare; just like the good ol' days. She saw Kai pick up a book from off the floor and start to read. Seeing this as her moment of opportunity, she lunged out from the door frame, about to yell a large boo. She stopped in her tracks as she saw her brother bathed in a bright blue light and slowly fade as the book dropped to the floor. Rosalie stood there, not moving a muscle as her mouth dropped open, her little brother was gone and the only evidence he was there was the book, lying open on the floor.

Well, there's my second chapter, hope you like it! I have thought this story through, but only to a certain point, and I am open to any ideas you might have. I know this chapter is shorter, but I wanted it t end there so whatever


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